Teacher shortage in Hindi schools in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Ramesh Joshi, president of the Brihanmumbai Mahapalika Shikshak Sabha, said it was an irony that there were more teachers employed for Marathi schools, which no longer had as many students.

"There are more students in Hindi and Urdu schools but these educational institutes are suffering from shortage of teachers."

Speaking of the larger enrolment trend, Joshi said Maharashtrians were not interested in getting an education in Marathi. "Marathi manoos is one with a Maharashtrian surname, but doesn't know his or her own language," Joshi lamented.

Between 2008 and 2009, the Brihanmumbai Municpal Corporation folded up 15 of its Marathi schools in line with the student count that has been constantly falling. That year, enrolment rose only in Hindi and English schools, yet it did not prompt the BMC to re-work its elementary education strategy.

The BMC did not start new schools to fill the growing demand for English- and Hindi-medium schooling. Nearly 1.17 lakh students have been crammed into 234 Hindi schools, few more than half the Marathi schools that the BMC runs (see box).

Educationist Madhav Chavan said the trend is a reflection of Mumbai's demographical change, as well as the fact that middle-class Mumbaikars are sending their kids to English-medium schools. "It's a fallacy that the BMC caters to poor children. It is the civic body's job to ensure good education is provided," he added. The BMC's expenditure on schooling has risen with the civic body spending Rs 1,240 annually on a Standard I student and Rs 2,525 per year on a Standard VII child.

Chavan said teachers recruited for Marathi schools must be re-trained to teach in English- and other-medium schools. The situation in the over-crowded English schools, the numbers of which have not risen despite the growing enrolment, is probably equally grim.